Any recent visitors to the Moseley Railway Trust’s site at Apedale,
Staffordshire, cannot have failed to notice the very large building which is
growing alongside the existing station. This new building is the
long-planned museum. The creation of a museum building of this nature has
been a long-held ambition of the Moseley Railway Trust, and a core objective
for the organisation since its very earliest days. Modelled on a traditional
railway building, the museum will contain three tracks. The museum will tell
the story of industrial narrow gauge railways. Such railways were the
frequently overlooked heroes of the UK economy, being found in almost every
conceivable application – from waterworks to peat bogs, and from military to
mining. The Trust has one of the UK’s most complete collections of rolling
stock and other artifacts from such railways, and the new museum will allow
this important story to be told to visitors to Apedale.
The museum is principally funded by a bequest from the family of a Trust
member. Additional valuable support has been received from the Garfield
Weston Foundation, which is a family founded grant-maker that gives money to
support a wide range of charities across the UK. The bricks for the museum
have been provided by Ibstock, who are close neighbours to the Trust at
Apedale. Their donation is part of Ibstock’s work to help shape resilient
and sustainable communities.
However, the museum project is not fully funded; current funds will take the
project to the stage of a weathertight building. The Trust is therefore
appealing for assistance to “finish the job”; it is estimated that
approximately £50k is needed to make the building into a working display
space.
Simon Lomax, interim Chair of the Trust said “It cannot be over-stated how
important this project is to the Moseley Railway Trust, the local community
and the UK industrial heritage generally. It will be truly transformative
for the Apedale site. The Trust has funded this project to a value in excess
of £500k – now we’re appealing for help from our many friends and supporters
to ensure that we can finish the project properly and create a facility
which we can all be truly proud of”.
Donors and potential supporters are invited to contact the Moseley Railway
Trust via its website – www.avlr.org.uk, via social media, or just come
along to the site at Apedale; trains will be running on the 2’0” gauge
Apedale Valley Light Railway until the end of October.
